Kaylee Lofthouse: February 9, 2016: "What's a Sister Lofthouse?"

Hello Family and Friends!!

Its been great week! Even though there has been some difficult times, I know that God has always been there and aware of us. I'm grateful for experiences that help me learn and grow. Plus its been a great week because of the many weird/funny/crazy things that have happened. So I'll start my email with those. :)

Crazy Story #1-
One day this week we were walking down this street and we saw this lone man waiting at a bus stop... He was across the street but we were like "Talk to Everyone!" so we went over. There was another lady down the street a little more so Sister Unwin went to talk to her and I stood next to the man at the bus stop and said "Hello! How are you today!?" He turns and looks at me and said in not the nicest of tones, "DON'T YOU SELL YOUR RELIGION AT ME! YOU'RE DISGUSTING! GET AWAY FROM ME!" I was in shock... I had never had anyone call me disgusting before.. I like to think of myself as pretty cute. :) Haha but my pride did get to me a bit and I made Sister Unwin wait for the bus and the guy wouldn't even stand by us to wait for it. He crossed the street to wait at a totally different one. It was a first on my mission!

Crazy Story #2-

We were riding the skytrain and Sister Unwin was sitting by a man and I was standing a few feet away. And the guy leans over to her and asks, "What's a Sister Lofthouse??" She just burst out laughing and was able to share the Gospel because of it. :)

Crazy Story #3-

We were walking down the street and this old Asian man was standing outside his house so we tried talking to him! But he didn't really understand us so he just laughed and started throwing peanuts at us! They were really yummy peanuts too. :) Haha

Crazy Story #4-

As we were walking outside of our apartment one morning Sister Unwin tried saying hi to this one lady that always wears a blue hat and scarf. The lady didn't give her the time of day. Then as we were coming home for the night we were crossing the street with her. Sister Unwin leaned over to me and said, "talk to her!" So it did! And she just gave me and angry look! Apparently I heard Sister Unwin wrong and she said to not talk to her... haha. Then the next day we were coming down the elevator of our apartment but we realized we forgot something and needed to go back up. So the doors opened on the 1st floor, and guess who's there? Yes. Blue hat and scarf lady... She got in the elevator and we tried to explain that we needed to go back up so that it wouldn't seem weird that we were staying on. She didn't even look at us but she handed us a little note! I was trying to keep my laughter in the whole time! She got out and we read it and it basically said not to even say hi to her, that she doesn't talk to Mormons. That was the 1st time on my mission I got a note like that! Hahaha

Crazy Story #5-

We were teaching a less active yesterday at an A&W and the less active was just pouring out her heart to us when all of the sudden the older Chinese lady walks by and burps right in Sister Unwin's face like it was nothing... Our less active goes on for a few more seconds and then we all just burst out laughing!!!

Now lets get on with the more spiritual part of the week. :) On Wednesday we taught Elisabeth and Roy the Law of Chastity. It was a pretty good lesson and they loved all the blessing we told them about from keep this commandment. They told us they were planning on getting married in August so we committed for them to pray about moving it up a bit so that they would been able to be baptized sooner. A couple days later when we called them, they said that they decided they are just going to go to an Anglican Church which is close to them. We were a bit sad and asked if we could see them another time. So we saw them that evening. We had a plan to to help them understand more the importance of the Restoration but thats about it. They have been so diligent about reading the Book of Mormon everyday so we asked them about it, and they said that it was hard to understand. So we start talking about the spirit and receiving a witness and we asked them what they expected it would feel like. I will never forget what happened next. We started going into the 1st vision. I recited it in Joseph Smith 's own words and all of the sudden it was like the spirit was there. It was intense. I fell like if I put my hand out I could literally feel it. It was testifying to each of our hearts right at that moment that these things were true. That the message of the Restoration is absolutely true. Roy had tears running down his face and we testified to him that what he was feeling was the Spirit of God. It was the most intense lesson I have ever had. They are still deciding what they will do. Please keep them in your prayers!

Also this week we got to meet with Elisabeth and Roy's next door neighbor, Darren. He is about 50 and has cerebral palsy. He let us in and is really nice and funny! He says he knows God id realy becasue he is a witness. His life is a miracle. He was born 2.2 lbs. Has we were talking with him in his home he told us about his life and his faith and it was amazing. As he was just talking it was like he was quoting Book of Mormon scriptures. He had a Mormon friend in highschool and he always loved to be in her home. He is really spiritual so super truth seeking. He was going to come to church on Sunday and he really wanted to bare his testimony... But he got sick.Please keep Darren in your prayers!

Also this week we were texted through so contacts in our phone and we texted this one named Jet. Who has been telling us she has been in the hospital for the last month. But she finally told us we could come and visit her and she told us her room was on the 8th floor. So we went to the Hosbital and got on the elevator and see the different floors... We saw that the 8th floor was for TB patients... No wonder she has been in the hospital for so long! We still go up and when we visited her we had to where a fancy mask. Jet is super sweet and is from the Philippines. She is so open to the Gospel and we taught the Restoarion and she committed to be baptized! I laughed a bit when we were teaching becasue I saw how ridicous Sister Unwin looked and pictured myself looking the same way. Also keep Jet's health in your prayers! But she is doing pretty good. :)

I lvoe each week of my mission so much. There really is never a dull moment here in Vancouver! No matter what happens ther eis always hope. "And we know that all things work togehter for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose... If God be for us, who can be aganinst us? Who shall be against us." God love us. We can show our love to him through our faithful servce. I lvoe you all so much! Hopw you have a great week!

Love,

Sister Lofthouse